1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a flat knitting machine having a front and back needle bed, equipped with needles, with each of said needle beds being made up from single exchangeable segments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is already known or has been suggested to make up the needle beds of flat knitting machines from individual bars, of which two adjacent ones define the guiding channel, groove or trick for a needle. It is also known to join the individual bars into groups and align these bar groups as individual segments of a needle bed.
In principle, the idea is also known to arrange a needle bed in such a way that it is possible by means of a suitable arrangement of needles to knit thereon with two different stitch gauges (DE-GM 18 72 478). However, up till now this idea could only be realised to a limited extent or on older machine types having simple cam systems, and therefore it has not gained any practical significance until now.